The joint TV production is an initiative under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Ministry of Communications (MOC), Brunei Darussalam and the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) for Cooperation in Broadcasting and Media signed since 17 June 2009.The joint TV production signified a key milestone under the MOU and showcasing the strong relationship and collaboration between the two government broadcasting and media agencies from both countries in the areas of technical co-operation and industry development.

The idea for a joint documentary featuring Brunei Darussalam’s and Singapore’s national rivers was conceived in November 2012 when AITI (on behalf of MOC) hosted MDA and MediaCorp at a bilateral meeting in Brunei.In January 2013, AITI led a business delegation to MediaCorp in Singapore where production houses from both countries had the opportunity to form partnership and consortium to participate in the Call for Proposal jointly launched by AITI and MDA.On 16 April 2013, AITI and MDA jointly awarded Brunei Darussalam’s Masscom TV Production and Singapore’s Mediamorphosis Television and Video Production to produce the info-education TV programme.This is an inaugural collaboration between independent production houses from both countries. Masscom TV Production and Mediamorphosis Television and Video Production started their scripting, filming and production work in the second quarter of 2013. The first episode of the program will be telecast at 930 pm on RTB 1 on 23rd February 2014 which is also our 30th National Day.

The documentary will focus on the transformation of the two national rivers in Brunei Darussalam and Singapore through the years of economic growth. The 5-episodes documentary will feature the rich history and heritage, lives of early settlements at the river banks, the clean-up effort to preserve the environment of the rivers and the urbanisation that took place in recent years. At the launch event, a montage of the 5 episodes from the documentary was shown to the audience.

This co-production project is one of more collaboration that Brunei Darussalam intends to do in the future not only with Singapore but with other countries in order to create new innovative and creative content for our local market and consumers. With the deployment of high speed broadband technologies such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) and new broadcasting platform such as Digital TV and Internet Protocol TV (IPTV), Ministry of Communications, AITI and other relevant agencies in Brunei Darussalam are striving to provide more choices and media rich content for public while phasing out traditional analogue broadcasting transmission and TVRO over the next 5 years. The Ministry of Communications and AITI will also embark on the formulation of a strategic plan to develop the broadcasting and TV sector in Brunei Darussalam and outline the initiatives to create a vibrant broadcasting and TV market.